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Post by hannahhiester on Jan 12, 2016 10:02:11 GMT -5
In reading and watching the material from week 1, I came away with a sense of viewing teaching literacy as requiring a set of tools rather than a one method fits all, as in the reading wars where, from my understanding, phonics is pitted against memorization. Furthermore, technology has the potential to open up a whole new set of entry points for students and potentially requires new practices and/or greater use of certain practices. For example, things I notice in myself are I regularly have to look up things like 'ttyl' or 'brb', I notice that I skim read a lot more now-a-days than I used to and I type almost everything. The last one means I edit almost everything and rarely sit down and just write a cohesive paragraph like I used to do when I was in K-12. In terms of entry points, pretty much everyone I know came to reading through print media, mainly books, for a few it was comic books. I was curious, therefore, about people's views on the following
With the increased use of technology....
what might some new entry points be?
what practices may become more important or less important?
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Post by savannapoulson on Jan 12, 2016 23:09:10 GMT -5
Hi Hannah, you make a good point bringing up technology when it comes to literacy. Technology has improved greatly even from just the 2000s, and it really does affect literacy. Some new entry points may be through learning game apps on an iPad, or even through things like watching videos on YouTube. However, technology and literacy have had a connection longer than most people may think. When I was younger, my entry point into reading was using the closed captions on my television whenever I watched something since I had trouble hearing, while several people I know had their entry point through text-heavy video games. In any case, I feel like using technology to help students gain literacy skills will be a benefit to them, especially as more schools are adapting more use of technology into their curriculum. Plus, while they will have to have basic technological literacy to be able to use technology as an entry point into other forms of literacy such as reading and writing, many kids today learn how to use technology at a pretty fast pace as its something that they grew up with. Also, while I don't feel that any practices in particular will become less important, I think that certain nuances of practices may become things that aren't really focused on anymore, such as cursive writing and using the Dewey Decimal System.
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Post by wmm12d on Jan 13, 2016 15:37:48 GMT -5
As it relates to entry points and technology, I think that we can use technology to uncover the interests of the learner and therefore gain insight into a possible entry point. For example, in a search for student interests, a teacher could allow students free time to google and looking at anything they want, keeping things appropriate, for several minutes. Through real-time observation or discussion afterwards, teachers can ascertain the items that were googled, and use them to identify potential entry points. In this case, the technology is the means to an entry point, not the entry point itself.
Regarding the use of positive archetypes as an entry point, I know through personal experience that the theory works. In high school I was a football and baseball playing jock who could not care less about algebra. One day, as I was trying to avoid working on quadratic equations, my teacher summoned me to his desk. He asked why I was not doing the assignment. I responded that I will never use algebra in my life after this class, so why worry about it? He simply said, "Don Mattingly knows how to work quadratic equations, now you go work them". I was stunned. I do not know how, but my teacher knew that Don Mattingly was my favorite baseball player. I played first base, and so did he. With Don Mattingly's approval of working equations, I walked back to my desk and started work. My algebra grade actually increased afterwards. I still talk to that teacher today, 32 years later.
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Post by hannahhiester on Jan 19, 2016 9:11:05 GMT -5
I like the ideas of using technology to uncover interests and entry points such as computer games of closed captioning. I also wonder about things like twitter, texting, web page development etc. I also see kids with ipads and smartphones and so it seems they are developing a technology literacy (for want of a better name) from a very early age and I think there are many ways we can capitalize on that.
I found the discussion of positive archetypes very interesting and I was weighing up the pros and cons of technology in that respect. With the internet and social media, it seems we are bombarded with stereotypes and the need to put our image out there constantly. However, the technology can also make access to positive archetypes easier, if you know where to look. I think the role of the teacher/parent/mentor remains essential to help guide students towards the positive archetypes. Any thoughts?
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Post by jjtylr on Feb 10, 2016 14:01:16 GMT -5
so this is an old topic but I recently came across an article that I thought was very interesting and fit well with the readings for Week 1. You can find the article here. The article discusses the research of Dr. Naomi Baron who found that students worldwide generally prefer to read texts in print as opposed to digitally. From the article: "Baron and her colleagues surveyed over 300 university students in the U.S., Japan, Germany, and Slovakia, and found a near-universal preference for print, especially for serious reading. When students were given a choice of various media—including hard copy, cell phone, tablet, e-reader, and laptop—92 percent said they could concentrate best in hard copy." This article also brought up that fact that Florida has passed legislation requiring public schools to convert all textbooks to digital versions. I found this very interesting, and would like to get some thoughts on the topic. Personally, I've always found it easier to concentrate and read more critically with a printed copy as opposed to on a computer screen. However, I know of friends who disagree. What do you guys think? |
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Post by hannahhiester on Feb 16, 2016 11:38:45 GMT -5
This is an interesting question, especially with legislation being passed that can affect students. I used to find reading in print much easier than on screen. Towards the end of my PhD and then in my job I started making an effort to read things on the computer. This was spurred on by convenience as it was easier to carry my computer around than a stack of paper (and emigrate!). At first, I found it much harder to read on the screen and that I would skim and not take in as much. Then I started to use annotation tools more and more which really helped and now I think I can read as critically in both mediums. However, if there is something I really need to work out or think about, I will make notes, diagrams etc. on a piece of paper. I also still made a note card for each paper as I found a set of cards easier to search and it also forced me to think about the key points. Overall, I think it depends on skills and habits. As developing these require time and effort, it may not be feasible to build them if all the cognitive effort needs to go into the material itself.
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